Power-transmission mechanism.



F. E. LUEBKERT. POWER TRANSMISSION MECHANISM.

7 APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26. I913. 1,258,796. Patented Mar.12,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

F. E. LUEBKERL- POWE R TRANSMlSSION MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED-SEPT.- 26. -I9l3.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

F. E. LUEBKERT.

POWER TRANSMISSION MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26 I913.

Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

, 3 SHEETSfSHEET 3- 75 v s2 76 2 84 v 1: 8i

r ii s 5 7; a 5 2 i 1? E 50 79 75 NITE STATES. PATENT OFFICE- -.1

FREDERICK E. LUEBKERT, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

'rownn-rnnusmssrox nncnmlnr.

Specification of Letter-l Patent. Patented Iain 12,

Application filed September 28, 1918. Serial No. 791,914.

7. '0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it, known that I, .Fnnusmcn E. LUEB. near, a citizen of the United States, and a resident .of Brooklyn, New York, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Power-Transmission Mechanism, of which the following is a specificsv tion.

This invention relates to power transmission mechanism of the type used in auto mobiles wherein it is desired to obtain. a plurality of speeds while the motor is running at constant speed Theinventldn is more urticularly directed to improvements in tlie mechanism dis closed in my prior Patent No. 1,064,752, with the objects first, to provide the controlling mechanism with means for quickly disconnecting the transmission shaftfrom the motor Sl'18-f t Without throwing the intermediate mechanism into operation; SCOl1(l,tO-Pl'0\'ltl8 a more positively acting mechanism for adiusting the throw of the variable crank; third, to gear the intermediate inechanlsm up so that a shorter stroke of the oscillating clutch member will suffice to give the-required speed; fourth, to provide this gearing with means for securing reverse spcedg'and fifth to simplify the arrangement of parts, nd to render them stronger and more com- 'pactly disposed.

The various further and subsidiary objects will more fully appear from the detailed description and the features of novelty wiil he particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings illustrating this invention,

Figure his a sectional plan view of my improved mechanism mounted within :1 cas ing which may be attached to suitable points.

lurged scale.

Fig. is a diagrammatic View illustrating the formation of the cams on the controller for obtaining the various movements of the parts of the mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a sectional. ele ation of the actuatiug mechanism for the controller, the section being taken along line 1-1 of Fig. 5.

Fig. a plan of the control handles and indicator. dial.

As in my prior patent above referred to, the motor shaft. drives intermittent clutching vided: A controller shu'ft- 30 which mounted. on an arm 31.

.formed op a sleeve 37, splined to the mt t by the operator, the arm 34 isswung .ab'o,

or gripping mechanism, the throw of which may be regulated to drive the transmission shaft at gradually varyingspeeds from 'restup to the full speed of the motor shaft, whereupon the latter is coupled directly to the; transmission shaft and the drive for the i n. termittent clutches may be adjusted. so that-:1, the latter are rendered inoperative. The construction and arrangement of parts is,- however, such as to greatly increase... the strength and compactness of the apparatus. Referring in detail to the drawingsjthe. motor shaft 10 has keyed thereto a sleeve .11 1 formed with a face plate or head 12 upon; 79 which is mounted an adjustable eccentricol r This eccentric is connected by an eccentric rod 14 with a pivoted bracket 15, which, in turn, is connected by links 16 and 17 to the drums 18 and 19, so as to impart an oscillate 75.. ing movement thereto, and, through suitable single'acting. clutches or pawls, impart rota tion to a sleeve 20 mounted upon the-motor shaft. Fixed to this sleeve is a gear 21 mesh- I ing with a pinion 22 mounted uponeflcoun a tor-shaft '23, suitably journaled in the frame. i A gear 24: splined to the counter-shaft-meshs with a pinion 25 fixed upon a. s quare tl ei d r', enlargement 26 formed on the transmission shaft 27. The latter is mounted in alinen'lent -sa with the motor shaft and the enlargement thereof is formed with anaxial socket-into which extends the reduced end portion of: the motor shaft. It is thus seen that, as the I motor shaft rotates, it imparts, through the .90.. eccentric 18 and the connections therefrom un oscillating movement to the drums 18 and h 19, and the latter, through the single-acting clutches, impart acontinuous rotation to the; sleeve 20 and the gear 21 thereon, and thencep the speed is stepped up through the ge'arin 'uhoi'c described to the motor shaft 27.

- To adjust. the eccentric to the: dc" throw, the following mechanism tuated by'the operator in any suitable n v nor has, mounted thereon a cum, 31.11; 11-- hereinafter more fully described. Thi

has a slot 32 in which extends a roller The latte-nhas .51 fork straddling a grooved collarfiti shaft. 1 'ojections 38 extend inwardly firom the prongs of the fork into the grooye of the collar. When the controller is 'actuate'd its pivot and thus't-hrough its promotions loo 1 otal connections, the-melts i0 meshin' with the pinions 41, mounted diametrical y opsposite each other upon i 'al axes in a suitable carrier 42LTMmaic 4-0-are guided by the walls of ther'carricr eite'nding about the same and engage thei pinions from opposite sides so as to mpart to the latter rotation in oppbsite directions, which rotation is imparted to the bevel pinions 43 fixed to the pinions 41 meshing with a bevel gear 44.

med on a sleeve 45 loose upon the sleeve 11 above described. The sleeve 45 at the.

end adjacent to the face plate 12 is provided with a head 46 having-formed therein a spiral slot 47 into which extends a pin 48 projecting from the eccentric. 13 through a radlal slot 49 formed in the face plate 12. It will thus be seen that when the controller is actuated to slide the sleeve 37 longitudinally along the motor shaft, the pinions will be rotated to turn the bevel pinlons 43 and head 46, and thus through the spiral cam slot into which the in extending from the eccentric projects, a just the latter radially so as to vary its throw. It will be understood, of course, that the eccentric 'is formed with an extended slot 50 through which the shaft passes sd'iis to permit the eccentric to move radially relative to the. shaft.

When the eccentric has beenadjusted so as to impart to the transmission shaft :1 speed equal to that of the motor shaft, the latter may be coupled directly to the transmission shaft as follows: Mounted upon the controller shaft 30 is a second cam 51 havingfia slot into which extends a roll 52 mounted upon a rod 53 connected to operate an arm54 havin .fixed, thereto a toothedsegment 55. The I atte'r meshes with ga'i'ack .bar 56 which slidesjin a suitable? ide within the casing and isformed wit; an upstanding arm 57 engaging a grooved collar 58 formed on a sleeve 59 slijdable upon the squared end 26 of shaft 27'. Fixed t0 the sleeve 59in any suitable manner is atoothed member 60 which may he 'slid into mesh with a toothed member 61 fixed to the motor shaft. Thus, when the transmission shaft has been speeded up by the intermittent clutching mechanism to ai speed equal to that of the motor shaft, ,f'urthcrmovement of the controller-shaft-actuates the cam fil the toothed In ember 61 T shaft is thus directly coupled to the motor into rack and thereby'shift the sleeve 59 along the transmission shaft and thus'throw the toothed member 60 into engagement with he transmission position to operate "the-segment and.

shaft, but the gear 25 remains in mesh Wltu the gear 24, as the sleeve 20. by reason of the, single-acting clutches, may, then overrun freely while the cams are actuated to ad'ust the eccentric to neutral position.

' "will now describe my im roved v construction ,whereby the transmission "shaft may be quickly unclutched from-thel'filotor cams is shown in the diagram corresponds to the position in which the eccentric 1s adjusted to no-throw and the cou ling member on the transmission shaft is l 1 i from the mating coupling member e motor shaft. The Ker isthen free and the transmiss shaft is in l rative. When the cams are rotated in the ion .of the arrow, the cam 31 will actuate the arm 34 to increase the throw "of" the eccentric. Ac

cording to the present constructionin which the increase of speed ieobtai'n'ed by, the movement of the arm 34 to the right, the

cam31 has a gradually increasing throw from points a to b, the latter point representing the int at which the maximum iii) throw 1s reac ed. While portion (1- -6 of the cam 31' is engaging the arm 34;, the i 'ortion ab ofthel cam 51 is engagngt e link 53, the angles subtended by ese portions bemgaqu The portion a and b ofthe cam 51 1s conccn'tnc' with the axis of'rotation of-the cams, angl therefore, does not actuate the rod"5 3, thus. maintaining the coupling members 60 and 61 out of engagement with each other during the time when the transmission shaft, -is being speeded up through the intermittent clutch mechanism.

Further. rotation of the cams in the same direction bringsthe concentric portion be of the cam'fll'fmto engagementwith the arm 34 and, theiincline'd portion b"-"c' .of the cam 51 in en egement' with the link 53, operating. the atter to throw the coupling membars 66 and 61 into engagement with each otliler while the transmisslon shaft isgbeing driven at its highestspeed by" the intermittent clutch mechanism, which speed is about equal to the speed of the motor shaft. While the cams are movingl still farther iii the same direction during ich time the concentric portion c'-d of the cam 51 is holding the transmission shaft coupled tothej motor shaft, the retreating portion c-d 'of,the,cam 31 actuates the arm 3,4.back into, position who're the eccentric is adjusted to neutral and thus the intermittent clutching mechanism is rendered idle while" the transmission shaft is directly coupled 'to' the motor shaft thepost 73. Mounted and is being driven at full s eed; In case the transmission shaft is coup .ed to the mo.- tor shaft before the former has quite at tained the speed of the latter, no harm will be done because the sleeve 20 may then simply overrun by reason of the fact that a higher speed is impressed upon it than the single-acting clutches can impart to it, as previously explained.

Now, in case it is desired to uncouple the transmission shaft quickly and bring the vehicle to a sudden stop, I so form the cams that the control shaft upon which the cams are mounted, may be further actuated in the direction of the arrow. Thus the portion a of cam 31 is concentric and corresponds to the position ofno-throw of the eccentric, whereas, the portion Z'--a. of cam 51 slopes inward and thus actuates the link 53 so as to throw the couplin' members 60 and 61 out of engagement. 1% comparatively small movement of the controller handle by the operator will, therefore, qu ckly uncouple the transmission shaft from the motor shaft without throwing into operation the intermediate speed changin mechanism, and thus the vehicle will b8%)f0llght'qlllt3k1yt0 a stop.

For reverse drive, the gear 24, which, it will be remembered, is s lined to the countershaft 23, may he slid a ong the shaft by an actuating arm 62 which engages a grooved collar 63 formed on an extension of. the hub of-the gear. When so actuated, this. gear 24 is thrown out of mesh with the pinion 25 and into mesh with a gear 64 fixed to a suitable back shaft or sleeve 65. The latter has fixed thereto a pinion 66 meshing with the pinion 25. When. the motion is transmitted through this back shaft, it will. be readily seen that the transmission shaft will be driven in the reverse direction.

\Vhen the reverse is thrown in, the con troller shaft can be actimted only for a p01" tion of its travel, so as to speed up the vehicle to only a fraction or any suitable proportion of its full speed. This is aecom. plished as follows: Referring 'to- Figs. {i and 5, the controller shaft 30 is geared by the bevel gears 70 and 71 to the vertical shaft 72 extending upward through the stationary tubular post '73 fixed to the vehicle. To this vertical shaft 72 is attached thecontroller handle 74: which extends over a dial 75, forming thecover of a casing 76 fast to within the stationary tubular post and surrounding the vertical shaft 72 is a tubular shaft 77 connected by an arm 78 lined at the bottom. thereof anda link 79 to an arm 80.1ixed to the reverse shaft 62". The reverse handle 81 is attached to the-top of the tubular shaft 77 and is disposed mainly within the casing 76, the extremity of the handle projecting from the casing through. a segmental slot 82 formed the dial 75. v plunger and tooth permit the handle to pass latter in' one directionbut not in the; other. The tooth also is so located that as in a vertical wall thereof.

handle is actuated to thrown in the reverse, I the plunger 85 is forced out, of its recess' and is held upward by the face of the sag ment, thus preventing the movenient' of t e controller handle beyond a point sufficient to give the suitable speed desired for reverse drive.

To prevent the movement of the controller handle in the wrong direction tending to throw -in the direct coupling 60-451 between the driven or transmission shaft and the latter is int-rest orhas not been speeded up to the requiredeflegree motor shaft while the by the intermittent clutch mechanism, I pro vide the controller handle with 5. sp

pressed plunger located preferably at the This plunger has a to'engagethe bev v eled face 92 of a tooth 93 upstanding from.

The beveled faces -offlthe bottom of the handle. beveled face 91 adapted the soon as the coupling 60 and 61 is disconnected, the plunger 90 passes this tooth and snaps back behind it. Thus to throw in the cou pling, it is necessary to again pass through the intermediate speeds, so as to speed up the driven shaft to the speed of the motor shaft. Also when the vehicle is at rest the in the proper controller can be moved only direction to'speed up the vehicle gradua and cannot be actuated to throw in the d1- rect coupling until the vehicle has-so beenspeeded up.

It will thus be seen that I have provided} 7 compact mechanism- \vhd're y any desired speed may be obt .ined

a com )aratively simple from restup to full speed of the vehicle.

Very little'efi'ort is required to adjust the I 129, speed may be obtained by imperceptible de speed changing device and the variation in grees from restup' to the .full speed of the vehicle.

which is required in connection with change hitherto employed, is obvispeed gearing uted .11 the present mechanism and at the same time the driven or transmission shaft A spring 86 abutting The use of the usual friction clutch The'hub of the reverse handle is formed with a segment 88.

plunger projects engages I lding the means whereby the also be increased gradually, but only up to a certain point, thus preventing the possibilit of accident in case of inadvertent or acci ental excessive movement of the controller upon reverse drive. The stroke of the int'ermitttent gripping or clutching mechanism is decreased by reason of the gearing up of the sleeve with the driven shaft, and accordingly the size of the reciprocatmg or oscillatingparts and also their stroke are reduced'toaminimum, thus renderin them more compact and decreasing their inertia. .t'

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In wet transmission mechanism, a driving ft, a driven shaft, variable grippin mechanism actuated by the driving shaft, means for transmittin the variable speed of said gripping mec anism to the driven shaft means for coupli the driven shaft directlyto the drivi shaft, means for varying the movement 0 said gripping mechanism, a controller for adjusting the gripping mechanism and for shifting the coupling means, said controller having means whereby the coupling is connected when the grippin mechanism has attained a move ment su cient to drive the driven shaft at a speed approximately equal to that of the driving shaft, said controller havin also gripping mechamsm is adjusted to inoperative position after the driven shaft is coupled directly to the driv-, ing shaft and means for disengaging the coupling without throwing the gripping mechanism into operation.

2. In wer transmission mechanism, a driving shift, a driven shaft, a sleeve loosely mounted upon one of these shafts, means for imparting a variable speed to the sleeve from rest up to a fraction of the full speed of the driving shaft, a counter-shaft, means for gearing up said sleeve throhgh said counter-shaft so as to drive the driven shaft substantially at the full speed of the driving shaft, a'nd means for'directly coupling the driven and shafts when the former has attained substantially the full speed of the driving shaft. 1

3. .In a pjower transmission mechanism, a driving shaft driven shaft, intermediate gripping mec 'sm, step-up gearing between said dl'lflng and said driven shafts for speeding up the latter from a position of rest up to substantially the full speed of the drivingshaft, the step-up g'earing including counter-shaft and a gear .slidable thereon, aback shaft geared to the driven shaft, and

means for shifting the slidable gear into mesh with the gear on the back shaft to se- -cure a low speed reverse through the gripping mechanism.

4 In change speed mechanism, a driving shaft, .a driven shaft and meansfor gradually speedinggp the driven shaft from rest up to up to -ately the full 8 eed of the drivin aft, means for direct y coupling the s afts when the driven shaft has so been speeded up, means whereby the movement of the same controller uncouples the shafts without passing the driven shaft through the intermediate speeds, and means for preventing the direct coupling of the shafts without passing the riven shaft throu h the intermediate speeds.

5. n change 5 eed mechanism, a driving shaft, a driven s aft, means for gradually speeding up the driven shaft from rest up to approximately the full speed of the driving s aft, and means for irectly coupling the shafts after the driven shaft has so been speeded up, a controller handle for controlhng the chan e speed and the direct cou pling of the s afts, a spring pressed plunger upon the handle having a beveled face,

and a projection formed upon a stationary part cooperating with the plunger to prevent reverse movement of the controller after the direct coupling has been disconnected.

6. In change s eed mechanism, a driving shaft, adriven aft, variable speed transmission mechanism between the shafts for gradually speeding up the driven shaft from rest 11 to approximately the full speed of the dnvin shaft for forward drive, reverse drive mec anism, a controller for the vari able speed transmission, a reverse handle, and means actuated by the reverse handle for preventing the movement of the controller further than necessary to secure a low speed upon reverse drive.

7. In change seed mechanism, a driving shaft, a driven s aft, variable speed trans- "mission mechanism between the shafts for gradually speeding up the driven shaft from' rest up to approximately the full speed of the driving shaft, reverse drive mechanism,

a controller for the variable speed trans mission, means for directly coupling the ing shaft, reverse drive mechanism, a controller for the variable speed transmission, :t-reverse handle, a segment formed thereon and a spring pressed plunger operated by said segment to form a stop for the controller handle, and'allowingonly a ortion of the full movement of the same w en the reverse handle has been actuated to throw in the reverse drive.

9. In change speed mechanism, a driving shaft, a driven shaft, variable speed transmission mechanism between the shafts for gradually speeding up the driven shaft, reverse drive mechanism, a controller for the variable speed transmission, comprising a vertical actuating shaft, a stationary tubular post surrounding the same and formed with an enlarged casing, a dial on said casing, a.

controller handle mountedgon the vertical shaft over said dial, means for shifting the reverse drive mechanism comprising a tubular shaft passing through the post and surrounding the vertical controller shaft, a handle attached to the tubular shaft and passing through a slot in the casing, a seg 

